While the NBA awards are yet to be officially announced, Fox Sports’ Chris Broussard has submitted his ballot and shared them on “First Things First.”
Some of his choices, he said, were nip-and-tuck. He “remains torn” on the Defensive Player of the Year, and had a different fifth-ranked MVP than the fifth player on his All-NBA First Team. But, he was confident with his Most Valuable Player pick, Sixth Man of the Year and Rookie of the Year.
Here’s what his selections looked like, and the reasoning behind them:
Broussard voted for Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as his Most Valuable Player over Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo because of his presence as a two-way star and leading an inexperienced team to the most wins in the NBA.
“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the youngest team in the NBA ever to 60-plus wins. In fact, they won 68, 18 more than Jokic and his championship-level roster,” Broussard said. “Shai played all-league level defense. So there’s that. He is a great defender. Thirdly, he led the league in 20-point, 30-point, 40-point and 50-point games this season, and he broke the NBA record with 72 straight games with 20 or more points … He is only the third guard ever to average 32 points a game and do it on 50-percent shooting. Michael Jordan did it three times. George Gervin did it twice … When you score that much, and you’re that efficient, it’s huge.”
He filled out the fourth and fifth spots with Jayson Tatum and Cade Cunningham.
The first four players in his MVP rankings each made his All-NBA First Team, and he traded out Cunningham for Anthony Edwards because he thought he had a better individual season.
“I think (Edwards) is a better defender than Cade. He’s an all-league caliber defender. Twenty-seven points, he led the league in 3-pointers made, and I feel like he’s shooting too many 3s because he’s so explosive getting to the basket and in the mid-range, but he’s a great 3-point shooter.”
Selecting Edwards for his first team meant Cunningham and Donovan Mitchell were relegated to the second team. He didn’t feel Mitchell’s sacrifices, which have been highlighted as a reason for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ overall success, were as important as others did.
“There’s been a lot of talk about: ‘He gave up shots to help the team.’ He gave up one shot per game,” Broussard said. “What happened was, really, his shooting percentage dropped from 46 to 44. His assists went down … steals went down.”
LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Karl-Anthony Towns rounded out Broussard’s second-team.
“LeBron, Steph, shout-out to them. At their age, to be doing this at this level of their career, that’s phenomenal,” Broussard said.
Nick Wright, the host of First Things First, had Alperen Sengun instead of Towns on his second-team because he felt he was far-and-away the best player for a No. 2 seed in the Houston Rockets. So, Wright asked Broussard if Sengun came into play for him.
“I think KAT is just a better player,” Broussard countered. “Obviously, he scores more, he rebounds more, he’s more efficient, shooting 42-percent from 3.”
His third team included James Harden, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Brunson, Evan Mobley and Sengun.
Defensive Player of the Year: Evan Mobley
Evan Mobley was also Broussard’s DPOY, and he selected him narrowly over Atlanta Hawks’ guard Dyson Daniels.
“(Mobley) can guard the 3, he can protect the rim, he can guard all spots in between,” Broussard said. “He’s great, and he’s the anchor of one of the best defenses in the league.”
Broussard put Draymond Green third for DPOY and, ultimately, selected Daniels as his Most Improved Player.
“Dyson Daniels is only the 11th time in NBA history that a player has averaged at least three steals a game,” Broussard said.
The best of the rest
Broussard submitted Cavaliers’ head coach Kenny Atkinson as his Coach of the Year. Atkinson took Cleveland from a 48-win team to 64, and a “legitimate championship contender” in just his first year at the helm.
Broussard picked Malik Beasley as his Sixth Man of the Year because he stepped in as the Detroit Pistons’ second best player after Jaden Ivey got hurt.
Finally, he chose San Antonio’s Stephon Castle as his Rookie of the Year and Brunson as his Clutch Player of the Year.
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